SUMMER PLANS
Greetings from Anchorage, AK.
It’s been quite a winter – so much snow – we even set a record for snowfall in January. I love winter. It’s my chance to go internal, focus on my rest, reading, cooking, writing, snowboarding, recording etc. But spring is a very exciting time for Alaskans cause we can’t wait for SUMMER TIME. One thing I like to do is go on a warmer states winter tour, which we did in March. I started in New Mexico, where I got to play this really quirky bar outside of Hatch, a place called Caballo Tavern. It was a really fun night, and ended up with my sitting at the bar just enjoying myself while some Mexican farmer cowboys walked around belting out Mexican classics at the top of their lungs. They even gave me 3 lbs of green chilies which I bought to Idaho, stashed in my friends freezer and promptly forgot to retrieve them when I came home. Oh well, hope my friends make some really good green chili burros. My other gig was in Truth or Consequences at a vibey art gallery called Artists Abbey. Met some really cool people and one new friend even had us over to enjoy his natural hot springs the next day. After NM, I ended up in El Paso for one more gig then boarded a flight to Boise, ID where I met up with Derek Mangrobang and the rest of the crew for a short tour down to Provo, UT and back. We had some fun gigs at old haunts I used to play a lot when I lived there such as First National Bar in Pocatello and KOTO Brewing in Twin Falls. Our friend Jamie Drake joined us in Twin and piled into our borrowed Sprinter to make our way to Velour Live Music Gallery where we got to see old friends Jake Fish and Marcus Bentley. After our gig it was our guitarists 50th birthday so we had a drink at ABGs where we befriended and hung out with some of the women’s basketball team from Alabama A&M. Our final gig of the run was in the lovely McCall, ID. My amp was having issues so I got to borrow an old Supro from my friend Ed for the night. I was pretty exhausted from all the traveling and went to bed early right after the gig but woke up to a hot tub morning with coffee and jamming tunes. From there, we had a few days off before Treefort Music Festival started and we spent four days going to shows, partying and playing our set on Friday night at Payette Brewing Co on the river. Lots of old friends showed up and I think we had something like 10 people onstage.
After all that, I got to come home and sleep for days. Then me and my Dad flew out to New Orleans for Jazz Fest. First off, if you’ve never been to New Orleans it is one of the most unique and beautiful places to walk around and look at architecture. The buildings are all so “old world” and colorful and there is music everywhere along with amazing Creole and French cuisine. Ironically, my favorite meal was at a Mediterranean place, but you can pretty much get anything you want in NOLA. The festival itself was just wonderful, there was a Jamaican exchange so lots of smaller named Jamaican artists alongside legends like Stephen Marley and Sean Paul. Some of my highlights were getting to catch Rod Stewart (who I believe looked right at me and said “I see you brother” and I got this all on video), David Byrne was brilliant as always with his stories and amazing songs, the Isley Brothers sounded so good, and St. Vincent, Lorde, Stevie Nicks (!), my good friends Jodi James & Clay Parker, Jason Isbell and on and on…it was so fun. There was a little bit of rain during Stevie’s set as she sang “Landslide” and everyone was crying. Good times. Besides that one evening it was just nice and sunny right on the verge of being too hot, but as long as you timed your breaks out of the sun it was easy to get through each day.
One of the highlights that was a total surprise was find out Charley Crockett was doing a theater show with Lee Fields & The Expressions. Now, my good buddy Kullen plays keys and trumpet for CC but I had never seen him perform with the country superstar, so it was just an incredible night where we not only got to see an amazing show, but partied with the band on the bus until about 1:45 am because they had to drive overnight to make it to Peyton Manning’s birthday party in Texas that night with Ryan Bingham, Red Clay Strays and Lukas Nelson.
My Dad came with on this trip which was a great chance for us to make some memories together while enjoying lots of great music and food, two of my favorite things.
Now that I’m back in my own bed, I’m looking forward to this summer, where we have lots of great gigs planned and I hope you check out our tour dates and make it out to a show! Also, my new album is finished and I plan to order some vinyl soon. More info on that as the time draws nearer. Hope your spring is off to a good start!
MH